Heretic’s Barbecue!

The Central Valley Alliance of Atheists and Skeptics has announced it’s 10th Annual Heretic’s Barbecue!

All Heretic’s Barbecues have a theme, and for this year the theme is, “Mythology“. And there is no better place to find modern myths than in the pages of supermarket tabloids!

ELVIS EXPLAINS BARBECUE DETAILS

By William O’Really on April 19, 2017

In a very surprising interview, the King himself has shown up to give us the details!

“This is a wonderful event for everyone in the skeptical community,” said the King over a banana and peanut butter milkshake. “Atheists will love it too! Really, anyone who celebrates freethought, critical thinking, humanism, and human rights would be welcomed at this event. You don’t even have to be a member!”

“And the barbecue!”

“There’ll be Tri-tip for sure. Slow smoked, Kentucky style. Sliced thin and tasty. There will also be chicken, grilled over a wood fire. Sides? I know they’ll have potato salad and coleslaw. And barbecue beans too.

It’s all catered by Maw ‘n Paw Barbecue, right out of Clovis. They’ve got some of the best barbecue I’ve ever had!

“Well sure!” The King exclaimed. “If you want to host an information table at the event, just hit that other button on their website. Table hosting is $40 and you get free admission for one person! CVAAS will even provide the table and two chairs!”

Elvis looked thoughtful for a moment. “Of course, if you want to SELL anything from your table, you’ll either need a business license, or you will need to make arrangements with CVAAS to sell using their business license. That’s ‘house rules’ from the good people in Clovis. Just let CVAAS know when you buy your table hosting.”HERETIC’S BARBECUE GUEST SPEAKERSBy Pat Truck on April 20, 2017

People often ask, “Why make that up about Jesus?” Modern fake news provides a model that explains exactly that. Richard Carrier will discuss the structure of propaganda in mythmaking about Jesus, and its similarities with the current fake news epidemic.

Dr. Carrier has a Ph.D. in ancient history from Columbia University and is a published philosopher and historian, specializing in contemporary philosophy of naturalism, and in Greco-Roman philosophy, science, and religion, and the origins of Christianity. He blogs regularly, lectures for community groups worldwide, and teaches courses online.

Dr. Carrier is the author of many books including Sense and Goodness without God, On the Historicity of Jesus, and Proving History, as well as chapters in several anthologies and articles in academic journals. For more about Dr. Carrier and his work see his website: www.richardcarrier.info.

Speaker Aron Ra

Aron Ra is one of the “YouTube atheists” and an advocate for rationalism in science classrooms. He grew up in an exclusively creationist environment where he felt like a lonely outcast just for understanding evolution, let alone accepting it. Being raised in a mostly-Mormon family encouraged him to explore other denominations and eventually non-Abrahamic spiritualism before rejecting faith-based beliefs altogether.

He was drawn into activism when the Religious Right dominated his state’s Board of Education and began undermining education in history, health, science, and social studies. Aron authored “Foundational Falsehoods of Creationism“. His videos often focus on evolution and the evidence indicating an interrelated tree of life. His series summarizing the ‘Foundational Falsehoods of Creationism‘ and his subsequent series, ‘Falsifying Phylogeny‘ (including the ‘Phylogeny Challenge‘) have been mirrored, featured, referenced, and recommended by many professional scientists, secularists, and educators, and has attracted more than 140,000 subscribers to his YouTube channel at youtube.com/user/AronRa.

Speaker Bill Zuersher

Bill Zuersher is an activist for the separation of church and state. He studied economics and government at Yale and then worked for two decades in the energy industry before dedicating himself to teaching and writing. He authored the book “Seeing Through Christianity“.

Bill has summarized his own religious view in his debates: “I do not believe in the existence of any gods or goddesses. It is certainly possible that one or more such beings exist, but if so, they do not appear to expend much effort superintending the affairs of the world.” For more about Bill Zuersher see his website at seeingthroughchristianity.com

Musical guest Joey Fabian

Bassist, instructor, and producer Joey Fabian created a cover of “It Ain’t Necessarily So” for the CVAAS Podcast.

Fabian began his music career in Atlanta playing and recording with several prominent bands, including members of the Atlanta Rhythm Section, Sea Level, and the Glenn Phillips Bands. Since arriving in the Bay Area in 1991, he has performed almost every conceivable genre of music from Soukous to Samba-Reggae, Blues to Bluegrass.He is best known in the Bay Area for a slew of projects with guitarist Chris Rossbach and a 13-year association with fusion band The Bartron Tyler Group.

He has taught bass and guitar since 1994 at Gryphon Stringed Instruments in Palo Alto. Joey runs a production studio called The Tomato Farm in Palo Alto. You can find Fabian at The Skeptic’s Jukebox or at his website joeyfabian.com.UFO ARRIVAL BRINGS SPECIAL DEAL!By Ed Couturier on April 24, 2017

In addition to exposing the president’s secret as a shape-shifting reptilian humanoid, The Weekly Inquiries has broken through a massive government cover-up that has tried to hide the existence of aliens and their UFOs visiting the Earth!

To celebrate this monumental discovery, The Weekly Inquiries has opened a classified vault that exposed a secret method to become a member of CVAAS AND get a ticket to the Heretic’s Barbecue for LESS than the cost of buying both separately!

After faking my own death and starting over again in Kalamazoo, I’ve done my best to live a quiet and respectful life.

And I’m asking YOU to be respectful at the Heretic’s Barbecue. To help ya out, read the CVAAS “Event Code of Conduct”. By coming to the Heretic’s Barbecue you are agreeing to abide by this, or ya’ll haveta leave. As my mama used to say, “Be good!”

If you do that for me, I’d like to shake your hand. Don’t tell anyone, but I’ll be at the Heretic’s Barbecue too. Just stroll up and we can take a picture together! I hear the Enquirer is paying a lot for those, so it might be worth something to ya!